Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: 16. Land of Chaos, Gyeonggi Province (2)
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“Need a hand with those guys?”
Jong-su asked while eyeing the cow charging straight toward them.
His right hand was already resting on the Early Bird at his waist.
If Young-woo gave the okay, he’d hop out of the car and cleave the beast’s head clean off.
One of those things ought to fill up everyone charging over there right now.
“……”
Young-woo hesitated for a moment, gazing at the cow with pity in his eyes, then nodded.
“Let’s do it. We can ask about the situation around here, too.”
“Got it.”
The moment Young-woo gave the go-ahead, Jong-su flung open the driver’s door and stepped out.
Clunk.
At that, the people chasing the cow faltered and slowed down.
A moving car was already a rare sight, and now some hulking giant was emerging from it, Early Bird in hand—they were terrified.
-Moo…!
Even the fleeing cow sensed something ominous about Jong-su and veered its head toward the road’s edge.
Whoosh!
A savage twist of its head, as if promising a headbutt if he kept getting in the way.
But Jong-su wasn’t one to back down.
No, quite the opposite.
“Hold it!”
He charged at an angle toward the cow, gripped the Early Bird with both hands, and brought it down with explosive force.
Swoosh!
No sooner had the chilling sound rung out than the tank-like beast slamming toward him crashed to the ground.
Thud!
Its massive head flew into the air right then.
That single strike had severed it clean off.
“……!”
The people pursuing the cow realized in that instant that Jong-su was no ordinary fighter.
Halving a beast in full sprint would demand insane strength and endurance.
Of course, Young-woo knew that all too well, which was why he worried for Jong-su instead.
‘An attack like that would overwhelm most stats. Isn’t he pushing too hard?’
It was the kind of thought only someone like Young-woo, who’d built his abilities step by step, could have.
“Ngh.”
Sure enough, Jong-su’s face twisted in pain from the strain on his arms. But it didn’t look like his elbows had shattered or anything.
“You okay, Jong-su?”
Young-woo poked his head out the window and asked. Jong-su flexed his hand open and closed, then flashed a grin.
“Yeah. Tougher bastard than I thought.”
Jong-su glanced at the cow sprawled pitifully on the ground.
Then he waved toward the people standing frozen at a distance, unsure what to do.
“What’re you waiting for? Come on over.”
They exchanged glances before slowly approaching Jong-su and the cow, one by one.
Eleven in total.
They outnumbered him and were armed with knives, axes, and the like, but they didn’t feel threatening at all.
No trace of that aura unique to the strong gleamed in their eyes.
The kind of presence given off by those who’d tasted ‘success’ in this world.
The momentum born from the hope and expectation that they could seize any opportunity and make it happen again.
Confidence, in simpler terms.
But these eleven who’d chased the cow down? Not a shred of it.
Defeat and worry filled their faces.
And who could blame them? Their prey, chased for dear life, had been snatched by some predator out of nowhere.
Just like always, they’d failed again.
“Wh-what’s going on?”
Finally, one of the eleven mustered the courage to speak.
He couldn’t even imagine the other guy had killed the cow for their sake.
In his experience, anyone wielding an Early Bird didn’t treat regular folk as equals.
“……”
Jong-su frowned at the blood splattered on his clothes, then pointed his blade at the cow’s head, which had rolled off some distance away.
Shing.
“Weren’t you trying to eat it? Prime Hanwoo. Figured I’d help out.”
“Ah.”
At Jong-su’s words, all eleven gaped in unison.
That was when Young-woo, still in the car, opened the rear door and stepped onto the road.
Click.
His Mirage shoes—Unique-grade—met the asphalt with an oddly dissonant sound.
Eleven pairs of eyes that had been fixed on Jong-su snapped to Young-woo.
And then.
“Huh?”
“Gasp.”
As if on cue, all eleven dropped their weapons and flattened themselves to the ground.
“What the hell?”
Jong-su sheathed his Early Bird with a baffled look, while Young-woo blinked at the unexpected welcome.
“What’re you doing?”
When Young-woo asked, the one closest to the front lifted his head slightly.
“You’re from Seoul, right…? We were told to do this if we ever met you.”
“Who told you?”
At Young-woo’s question, the man raised his head a bit more and spouted something utterly bizarre.
“From people… who’ve actually met folks from Seoul.”
“……?”
People who’ve met folks from Seoul.
As Young-woo mulled over the weird phrase, Jong-su jumped in with the question.
“What the hell does that even mean, ‘folks from Seoul’?”
“W-well…”
Only then did the eleven half-rise, propping up their torsos.
They’d belatedly realized the two men before them weren’t ‘folks from Seoul.’
Come to think of it, they’d come from the direction of outer Gyeonggi, not Seoul.
“Oh, you’re not from Seoul…?”
“……”
Young-woo and Jong-su could only stare blankly at the eleven’s dumbfounded words.
What the hell had gone down in Seoul that even people who’d never met them were quaking in their boots?
“We’re heading that way, though.”
As Young-woo said it, he pulled out ‘Scaredy-Cat.’
The compass still showed no threats nearby.
“But why Seoul? Their people come down here swinging swords at random?”
Young-woo pocketed the compass again. The eleven just stared at him silently.
As if people from Seoul really did come down and slaughter indiscriminately.
“…For real? They’re not even fighting among the First Swords—they just kill anyone they see?”
When Young-woo reacted with disbelief, the apparent leader of the eleven spoke very cautiously.
“It’s just… no good getting on their bad side. Word is, anyone interfering with monster hunts gets killed.”
“Ah.”
Hearing ‘monster hunts’ clicked everything into place for Young-woo.
“So Seoul’s reaching into Gyeonggi’s monsters now. And they kill anyone who might be a threat.”
Maybe that’s why Yeoju had no First Sword.
|You are currently in the ‘Yeoju’ region.
|There is no First Sword in this region.
‘A turf war. The world’s already like this…’
Made sense, when it came to life-or-death stakes.
Getting stronger meant better odds of surviving whatever you ran into.
‘Wonder what Seoul’s really like.’
Young-woo glanced northwest—toward the heart of the issue—then gestured for the eleven locals to stand.
“Anyway, we’re not from Seoul, so no need for that. Just curious what the hell’s going on.”
His ‘what the hell’ included the bovine beast of the order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae, spilling blood across the pavement.
“Enjoy your meal, at least.”
Feeling queasy for some reason, Young-woo backed into the Audi.
Moments later, Jong-su slid into the driver’s seat and checked Young-woo’s complexion in the rearview.
“Boss, head out now? Nothing else to ask them?”
Young-woo bitterly watched the people, hesitant but inching toward the ‘Hanwoo,’ stealing glances their way.
Were they really going to hack into raw meat and eat it like that?
“They haven’t even seen Seoul people firsthand. Won’t get straight answers out of them.”
“Right. Fair enough.”
“Better if we hurry up and go. Might run into something ourselves. Seoul folk or whatever.”
Current time: 6:54 PM.
It was already growing dim outside the windows.
Even those folks who’d lucked into a meal tonight would need to hustle.
They had to secure shelter before the sun fully set and the freak weather hit.
Same for Young-woo and Jong-su, of course.
* * *
Vroooom…!
The two kept driving northwest.
They spotted three more groups chasing cows along the way.
Looked like some nearby ranch had let its herd loose.
People swinging blades at beasts—it was grotesque no matter how many times they saw it.
“That won’t last, though. Anyone who can’t pay today’s tax gets wiped out.”
Jong-su had stopped suggesting they help cow-chasers sometime back.
By now, he knew anyone still out here like this was doomed within days anyway.
10 PM: Tax collection.
11 PM: Freak weather.
Even if they dodged monsters and mutants by luck, they still had to clear at least two more survival hurdles.
Every day.
And without money for food or the speed to outrun a cow, could they pull it off?
With Seoul now barring Gyeonggi folk from even touching local monsters, desperate gambles for survival were off the table too.
‘A world where the fallen can’t get back up.’
Young-woo stared at the even darker sky.
If this wasn’t hell, what was?
At this rate, only superhumans would remain on Earth, battling daily mutants and…
‘Wait.’
Lost in grim thoughts out the window, Young-woo blinked as something hit him.
‘Come to think of it—what about other countries?’
Reset.
The first day’s announcement had said the ‘Reset’ applied to all humanity.
「This means that more than half of humanity harbors hostility toward the world, triggering the forced activation of the Reset function.」
So it wasn’t just Korea—Japan, China, the US, Africa, everywhere must be going through this.
‘My God.’
Horrible visions flooded his mind, furrowing his brow—just as a line of black text wreathed in fog appeared in his vision.
「Advertiser will visit in 1 hour.」
「Prepare a thank-you gift for our esteemed guest.」